The Alzheimer’s Association, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) and CurePSP are partnering together on this unique funding program to advance an understanding of the role sleep plays in neurodegeneration, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body diseases and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. This funding call will focus on projects aimed to advance our understanding of the impact that sleep and related biology (including circadian rhythms) have as both a contributor to and a consequence of neurodegeneration. Projects funded through this program will aim to tackle the proposed question with a multidisciplinary team and projects that engage in team science approaches will be given preference.    

Program overview

Although Alzheimer’s and dementia research has made many advances in recent years, the field still faces gaps in our knowledge and ability to translate basic science discoveries into treatments and evidence-based clinical practices for dementia care, across all underlying biology and patient symptoms. Some of these overarching questions focus on understanding of disease causes, need for models and other tools to evaluate disease biology, early and accurate detection and diagnosis procedures and diverse treatment modalities.
 
Many individuals with diseases that cause dementia or other neurodegenerative outcomes experience sleep disturbances as the disease progresses or have a history of sleep-related issues in their medical histories. Sleep is a complex physiological process that supports numerous basic survival mechanisms, including metabolism and immune system. Sleep also is central to regulating neuroplasticity, memory consolidation, learning and may also be a key mechanism for clearance mechanisms critical for healthy brain function. Sleep is also governed by the circadian clock which may be altered in people living with neurodegenerative disorders
 
In 2022, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAESM), through the Forum of Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders convened a workshop focused on sleep and its impact on the central nervous system. Through these two days, there was an emphasis on what is known as well as what is not known. One of the key themes was the synergy of mechanisms across neurodegenerative disorders and the opportunity to leverage studies in this area to better understand the contributions of sleep to neurodegenerative disorders.
 
To that end, the three partner organizations have come together to frame this funding opportunity to address these opportunities to accelerate our understanding of sleep. The Sleep Contributions to Neurodegeneration (SCN) Grant Program solicits projects that aim to address some of the key challenges across neurodegeneration research today as related to sleep and related biology contributions, including a goal of increasing understanding of the biological basis of sleep impairment and sleep signatures across and within neurodegenerative diseases, including contributions to progression, risk and clinical symptoms. Proposed projects must incorporate:

• Systems or holistic approach of the impact of sleep on neurodegenerative diseases from onset to progression, bringing together the threads of research that touch on sleep related issues.
• Incorporate considerations of co-pathologies and/or comorbidities in the context of sleep related impairment and/or contributions to progression.
• Incorporation of tools for deeper measures of sleep-related impact with passive tools of data collection; this can include “adjacent” physiology (heart rate, body temperature, etc.).
• Incorporation of sleep related biology measures in the context of other ongoing studies; studies that aim to add sleep related measures would be applicable and/or studies that aim to data mine existing data across data sets are of interest. 
• Successful proposals will take into consideration multidisciplinary and multi-organizational approaches to address these challenging questions.

Funding and award period

The maximum grant amount is $500,000 for the duration of the funding; with anticipated funding ranges to be $200,000 to $500,000 depending on the project scope. Budget spending should appropriately align to the specific aims and proposed milestones of the project. 10% indirect costs are allowable for this funding program. The maximum project duration is 2 years, and there is no minimum timeframe. The funding partners anticipated funding 4-6 projects, depending on the budget size requested and approved through the SCN Grant Program. The funding partners will evaluate projects on progress toward specific milestones; continued disbursement of funds is dependent on demonstrated progress toward key milestones.

Key dates:

• Letter of Intent Launch: December 11, 2024
• Letter of Intent Deadline: January 29, 2025
• Letter of Intent Decision Notification: Week of March 17, 2025
• Application Deadline: May 14, 2025
• Application Review: May-June, 2025
• Application Review Panel: Mid-July
• Award Notifications: By August 30, 2025

All LOIs must be completed online at https://proposalcentral.com. No hard copies or emails will be accepted.   
 
For those invited to submit a full application, the full application must be received by May 14, 2025, 5 p.m. ET. Applications will not be accepted after this date. No exceptions will be made. No hard copies or emails will be accepted.
 

• Award announcements will be made by August 30, 2025.

Additional details:

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure and verify that:

• The application is submitted by the receipt date/time deadline. Once submitted, you will receive a confirmation email from proposalcentral.com that your application was successfully submitted. If you do not receive a confirmation, click the Proposals tab, and under the “Status” column, make sure it says Submitted and not In Progress, which indicates you have not yet submitted your application.
• The application is complete and accurate before submission. Only a single copy of an application will be accepted. We do not require signatures at the time of submission. The signature page provided is for use should your institution/organization require signatures; we do not override any institutional policies and/or procedures. Please do not submit the signature page with your application.
• Revisions, additional materials, and/or references, manuscripts, appendices, etc., are not allowed and, if attached, will be removed from your application. Up to 3 letters of support (no more than 2 pages each) are allowed. Additional letters will be removed.

For more information, contact: grantsapp@alz.org.

Expenses

Allowable costs under this award include:

• Purchase and care of laboratory animals
• Small pieces of laboratory equipment and laboratory supplies (purchases over $10,000 require prior approval, even if included in the project proposal budget)
• Computer software if used strictly for data collection and/or analysis
• Salary for the principal investigator, scientific (including postdoctoral fellows) and technical staff (including modest administrative support)
• Research supplies needed for the proposed studies
• Support for travel to scientific and professional meetings, not to exceed $1,000 in any given year
• Open access publications fees are appropriate and reasonable for the project budget

Not allowable as direct costs under this award include:

• Computer hardware or standard software (e.g., Microsoft Office).not specifically required for the analysis and/or proposed project
• Construction or renovation costs
• Tuition for students or for educational training for trainees or faculty
• Service contract fees for equipment
• Construction or renovation costs
• Tuition
• Rent for laboratory/office space
• Visa costs and fees
• Expenses such as Data Network Recharges and Computing and communication device support services. However, data sharing and/or data storage for imaging, sequencing, and other study data is allowed.
• General liability insurance, such as GAEL
• Wire and currency exchange fees
• The Alzheimer’s Association Medical and Scientific Advisory Group (MSAG), the International Research Grant Program (IRGP) Council members, and current employees of the Alzheimer’s Association are allowed to be key personnel or collaborators on projects, however they are NOT ALLOWED to receive any salary or compensation. A complete list of MSAG and IRGP Council members can be found on our website alz.org/grants.

Multiple and overlapping submissions

Multiple submissions from one applicant are not permitted. This includes multiple submissions from the same group and/or collaborators.
 

Additional information

Ethical/Regulatory Approvals and Reporting Requirements
If awarded for funding, the funding partners will require that any necessary ethical and/or regulatory approvals are kept current, and may require specific reporting throughout the lifetime of the award. This includes, but is not limited to, the following.
 
Human Subject Assurances
Human subject assurances are not required at the time of application. Investigators have up to 90 days after receipt of their award notification to submit these documents. However, the funding partners encourage investigators to initiate their certification applications on a schedule that recognizes that approvals at many institutions can take more than 90 days. We will accept only certifications that apply specifically to the funded project and must include the name of the awardee. An award letter will not be issued unless the appropriate certifications are in place and include the name of the awardee within 90 days from award notification. The same applies to animal ethical approvals, if applicable. 
 
Annual Scientific and Financial Reports
Interim Scientific and Financial Reports must be submitted at the end of each reporting period as long as the grant remains active. Virtual check-in calls will be held at the six-month mark for awardees to provide updates on progress. Final Scientific and Financial Reports must be filed within 90 days of the grant‘s end date. All reports must be submitted electronically via proposalcentral.com. All awardees will participate in a final report virtual call to provide presentation of project outcomes. The Financial Report must be approved and signed by someone with financial authority in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at the recipient‘s institution.

Data Sharing
The Alzheimer’s Association, MJFF and CurePSP require the timely release and the sharing of final research data and other research resources generated from Alzheimer’s Association, MJFF and CurePSP funded research studies be shared and administered in accordance with this policy. Examples included in the “final research data” are the data, samples, physical conditions and other supporting materials created or gathered during the course of the work. The following principles should be followed:
 

• Share data, tools, and results within the consortia in near real time;
• Make useful datasets and supporting information available to the broader research community every 6 months, at minimum, through an appropriate data-sharing platform and other repositories, noting that not all experimental datasets are useful at early or intermediate stages of generation, exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis if the funding partners agrees that the data are not yet ready to be shared.
• Use a streamlined data access process for the data sharing platform to allow high throughput management of data access request approvals; make novel tools and research reagents (including, but not limited to, research models, cell lines, plasmids, viral vectors, antibodies, code/analysis methods, etc.) available as quickly as possible to academic and industry researchers either directly, or preferably through an appropriate and accessible distribution platform (e.g. Jackson Laboratory, Addgene, and GitHub) with minimal costs and restrictions.
• Whenever possible, avoid use of reagents, tools, samples, or data that cannot be easily shared; pre-approval for use of animal models that cannot be freely shared is required.
• Rapidly bring research findings and results to the research community through presentations at meetings and open-access publication (e.g. preprint servers, open access journals, or making papers available on the investigator’s website).

The teams’ commitment and expectations for sharing in a timely manner will be discussed and evaluated during the duration of the project. All project reports should include activities related to the sharing of their findings.

Recruitment Efforts for Clinical Studies and/or Studies that involve Human Materials
Projects involving human participants - whether directly recruiting or using materials from previously conducted studies - must address the appropriate inclusion or exclusion of individuals in the proposed research project.
 
Financial Responsibility
Funding is awarded to the institution and/or organization, not to the individual principal investigator. The principal investigator or a first-degree relative cannot be listed as the signing official or financial officer, or have checks sent to their attention if awarded.

Appeals of Scientific Peer Review
To maintain a fair and rigorous review system, the SCN Grant Program includes a process for appeal of funding decisions. Appeals will not be considered for the letter of intent stage. Regarding applications, an appeal is intended to address extraordinary circumstances.

Appropriate reasons for initiating an appeal might include:
 

• Evidence that a reviewer has an undeclared conflict of interest.
• An egregious error or misunderstanding in the review process.
• Active malfeasance or demonstrable lack of due diligence.

The appeal process is not intended to provide a mechanism for routine protest of failure to receive a grant. It is anticipated that funding through the SCN Grant Program will be extremely competitive and is limited by availability of funds.
 
If an applicant believes an extraordinary circumstance has contributed to failure to receive funding, the principal investigator may send a two-page, double-spaced formal letter of appeal (Word document) to grantsappeals@alz.org. Any supporting documents included must be submitted as a PDF. Appeals must be submitted within 2 weeks from the date your application outcome notification is sent. Notification of action on the appeal will be made via email, usually within 90 days of the appeal deadline.
 
Nondiscrimination and Harassment Statement
The Alzheimer’s Association, MJFF and CurePSP are committed to providing an environment free from harassment and discrimination. The Alzheimer’s Association, MJFF and CurePSP strictly prohibits harassment and discrimination based on race; creed; color; religion; sex; sexual orientation; national origin; ancestry; age; Veteran status; citizenship status; marital status; physical or mental disabilities; pregnancy, gender identity or expression (including transgender status); genetic information; and any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.